Huntsville, AL – A federal trial is under way in Huntsville over the way Alabama funds its public schools.
A longtime history professor from Auburn University, Wayne Flynt, was the first witness as testimony began Monday. Flynt described Alabama's tax structure dating back to before the Civil War.
U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith is hearing testimony without a jury.
Parents from two rural Alabama counties with small tax bases filed suit, claiming the state's low property taxes are to blame for children not getting the same quality education as students in some suburban Birmingham districts and schools in other higher-income areas. The say the problem stems to inequities created in the 1800s.
The state maintains that changing the current structure would throw Alabama's entire tax system into disarray.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)